Rape, Violence, and Chicana/o And Latina/o Identities

Violence is a prevalent theme in Chicana/o and Latina/o narratives and has become a stereotypical representation of the culture in the media. In this chapter I am interested in examining the role that violence plays in constructing queer Chicana/o and Latina/o identities in our cultural production. I analyze scenes and narratives that include representations of violent acts in order to demonstrate how such acts codify a queer body that engages, or is forced to engage, in nonheteronormative social and sexual behavior. These texts include the novel Locas (Yxta Maya Murray, 1997), So Far from God (Ana Castillo, 1994), and Naked Ladies (Alma Luz Villanueva, 1994) as well as the film American Me (Edward James Olmos, 1992). I focus on violence in three particular settings: gangs, prisons, and the domestic arena.